But with four new caps, including teenaged goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoua, the side made a winning start to their Group D qualifying campaign at the TP Mazembe Stadium.
Njie, with just a handful of games at Olympique Lyonnaise to his name, was among the new players and capped a strong first- half performance when he beat advancing goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba to the ball to score just before the interval.
Aboubakar added the second eight minutes from time with a stinging shot after cutting inside two defenders.
Stephane Mbia, who played left back, produced a captain’s performance in defence having taken the armband from Samuel Eto’o, who announced his international retirement last month.
The win will come as a relief to coach Volker Finke, who had several players pull out before the match, was without suspended Alex Song, and took a gamble in goal on 18-year-old Ondoua of Barcelona’s junior team. The teenager made several confident stops to keep a clean sheet.
Ivory Coast play Sierra Leone in Abidjan late on Saturday in the other group game. Cameroon host the Ivorians in Yaounde on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; editing by Clare Lovell)
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